Amazon to expand Fire TV's voice search later this summer

Amazon on Thursday revealed that its Fire TV media streaming box would soon be getting an upgrade in the voice search department. Crackle, Hulu Plus and Showtime will soon integrate their full catalogs into Fire TV’s voice search function.

Amazon’s offering has been praised by reviewers for having the fastest and most accurate voice recognition service in the streaming box industry. The problem, however, is that the catalog of content it works with is few and far between – specifically, just Amazon’s own Prime Instant Video service and Vevo music videos.

The online retail giant is also working to bring Amazon FreeTime and Amazon MP3 integration to Fire TV as part of an over-the-air software update. Fire TV apps for smartphones and tablets, meanwhile, will let users play touch-enabled games through the service.

Elsewhere, Amazon said a number of developers are working to make their services and games available for Fire TV. New titles are coming from developers like Telltale Games, Halfbrick, Pixowl, Disney Interactive, Minority Media, Paradox Interactive, Gaiam, AllRecipes and Twitch according to a press release on the matter.

Amazon introduced Fire TV on April 2 following months of rumors and speculation. The box retails for $99 and includes a wireless remote while the separate Fire game controller will set you back another $39.99.

The new partners will open their catalogs to voice search this summer although a specific release date wasn’t mentioned.